Legacy Applications

Pine EMail

SUMMARY: Tips for the Unix-based Pine E-Mail reader. Some tips may work with Alpine, Re-Alpine, and other related clients.

Scroll to the Ends

(This only works on some versions of Pine).

Want to scroll quickly to the beginning or end of an e-mail message or index? Press W to access the "Where" command, then CONTROL-Y to scroll to the beginning of the document or CONTROL-V to scroll to the end of the document.

More Commands Available

Don't forget there may be more commands that you can perform than just the ones visible at any given time. Look at the bottom of your PINE screen. If "O OTHER CMDS" is visible, press the 'O' key to see other available commands.

Different Way of Cutting Text

The CONTROL-K command, when composing an E-Mail message, normally cuts the entire line of text out of the message. If you do not like this feature and would rather have CONTROL-K cut from the current cursor position to the end of the line, go to the main menu and select "Setup." Select "Configure" if needed. Scroll down to "compose-cut-from-cursor" and press ENTER to check this box.

Resort Your Messages

If you would like to resort your messages by date, subject, size, or other fields, open up a mailbox and press the "$" key. You can then choose the type of standard or reverse sort that you desire.

Rename Mail Folders

E-Mail folders can be renamed if you mistype the folder name or for any other reason. Just press "L" from the main menu, highlight the folder name which you wish to rename, and press the "R" key. Now enter in the name of the folder you wish to rename. Note that you cannot rename special folder names, like "INBOX:" - PINE will tell you when this is applicable.

Bounce Messages

The Bounce command will resend an E-Mail message that you receive to someone else, making it seem like the E-Mail message was originally delivered to that person. The command for this is "B" when you are in a message folder, but you may not see this command. If 'bounce' is not enabled, go to the main menu and select "Setup." Select "Configure" if needed. Scroll down to "enable-bounce-cmd" and press ENTER to check this box.

Full E-Mail Headers

The Full Header command lets you see the entire E-Mail header and not just the normal To:, From:, etc. headers. This can be very useful for determining where SPAM E-Mail came from, among other things. Normally, this command is "H" when reading a message, but you may not see this command. If 'header' is not enabled, go to the main menu and select "Setup." Select "Configure" if needed. Scroll down to "enable-full-header-cmd" and press ENTER to check this box.

Remove Quit Confirmation

Tired of PINE asking you if you really want to quit? Force it to quit without confirmation. Go to the main menu and select "Setup." Select "Configure" if needed. Scroll down to "quit-without-confirm" and press ENTER to check this box.

Where to Download

Although no longer in active development, the Pine e-mail and news reader software is still used by many people, especially those running Un*x and variant operating systems.

Downloads are available for Windows, Linux, Un*x, and other operating systems at http://www.washington.edu/pine/getpine/.

The Alpine software can be downloaded at http://www.washington.edu/alpine/acquire/.

Jump to Messages Quicker

While you are in the message index screen, Pine lets you press the "J" key then a message number to jump to that particular message. But, if you check the configuration item "enable-jump-shortcut", you merely have to type in the message #, without the "J" key, to access said particular piece of mail.

More Room for Messages

Normally, Pine reserves the last two lines of the screen to display menu options. However, if you are a Pine expert and would rather use those two lines to display more of your email, select the "disable-keymenu" configuration option.

Return to the Legacy Applications page.

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